Is Homeschooling The Best Option For Children With Special Needs?

The decision to homeschool children with special needs is often the only choice the parents have. When the public school refuses to accept the child with special needs and parents cannot afford to send their kid to an expensive private school, homeschooling is the last option available. But many parents worry that this decision might have negative consequences for the kid. Can children with special needs benefit from homeschooling?

The Freedom to Be Yourself

Children with special needs, who attend public schools with no special programs for students with learning difficulties, have no other choice, but to adapt and try to act “normal”. That puts a lot of pressure on these children. The teachers often suggest or even require that the children with special needs are medicated, even though the side effects of behavior-modifying medications on children are not well researched and there is always a threat that these meds do more harm than good.

Children with special needs are often exceptionally bright and gifted, but in order to do better at school they have to sacrifice their talents and adapt to standard rules, which restrain their inner creativity. Homeschooling provides children with a chance to stay true to who they are and develop these skills, which make them so extraordinary.

Far Away from Bullies

Not only are the children with special needs more often criticized by the teachers, but they are also shunned or laughed at by their peers. In result, the children with special needs often have hard time finding real friends at school and meet more likeminded peers during after school activities. Homeschooling allows to alleviate child’s anxiety and contrary to common views, it does not change the child into a complete recluse.

Homeschooled children are provided with many opportunities to participate in social activities, they can join clubs and groups based on their interest and also meet other homeschooled kids through support groups. What they do not have to do is to cope with bullies, who attend the same class and turn their everyday life into a nightmare.

Do I Have What It Takes?

Homeschooling children with special needs is not easy. It requires more time, dedication and motivation to be a good homeschooling parent for a child with severe learning difficulties. But it is possible to be a great homeschooling parent, even if you are not an expert in child psychology. Start from researching your child’s condition more thoroughly to find out what kind of difficulties you can experience during everyday practice and how to deal with them.

Before you start homeschooling join a support group to learn from the experience of other homeschooling parents and receive recommendations on the best methods. If you worry that teaching math and science can turn out to be too difficult for you search for homeschool math resources online.

You should be able to find many helpful exercises, lessons and sometimes even complete math courses, which do not require professional knowledge and provide parents with enough explanations to help them understand complex and difficult issues. This article was written and offered for guest posting by the professional blogger and copywriter – Marta Gromadzka for www.eastwestmath.com